Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Portions of Speer, Auraria to be closed during DNC

Portions of Speer Boulevard and Auraria Parkway will be closed during the Democratic National Convention, according to Denver's transportation plan, which was unveiled this morning.

There won't be any light-rail service to or from the Pepsi Center and Denver Union Station stops.

However, light rail lines coming into the Central Business District will not be disrupted, including lines D, F and H. Passengers on the C and E lines who want to travel downtown can transfer to the D, F and H lines. All C- and E-line light rail passengers will be required to get off at the Invesco Field light rail stop. . . .

Street impacts stemming from moving Sen. Barack Obama's acceptance speech to Invesco Field on the final night of the convention haven't been finalized. Details will be announced in early August. The change in the venue from the Pepsi Center to the stadium was announced last week.

Among highlights of the plan:

Speer Boulevard from Interstate 25 to Lawrence Street - and the I-25 ramp to southbound Speer will be closed from 9 a.m. Aug. 25 through midnight Aug. 27, except during the morning rush hour.

Two lanes in each direction of Speer between I-25 and Lawrence, as well as the ramp from I-25 to southbound Speer, will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on those days. The I-25 ramp to northbound Speer Boulevard will remain open at all times.

Auraria Parkway from I-25 to Speer will be closed from noon Aug. 23 through midnight Aug. 27. The I-25 ramps to and from Auraria Parkway will be closed during this time frame.

Traffic on Wazee, Wynkoop, Delgany, Wewatta, and Little Raven between 15th Street and Speer will be limited to residents and employees between Aug. 25 and Aug. 27 but will be open to pedestrians.

More: But not much more. A CBS4 story mentions that the proposed Denver ordinance barring DNC protesters from possessing padlocks, containers of cement, etc., would also ban "noxious wastes" that protesters might throw at delegates. The story is titled "Denver works to ban human waste from protesters," which sounds rather odd. It contains this amusing graf:

"All this talk about urine and feces, things like this being included in the ordinance, it's completely ridiculous," Gary Spagnuolo, spokesperson for Recreate 68 said. Recreate 68 protested in Seattle and plan to have a massive presence at the DNC.

"Gary" Spagnuolo. And R68 didn't even exist until last year. The Seattle protests took place in 1999.

Update: I actually saw Meet the Spartans, and while it is unquestionably a terrible movie, there's no way it should get the lowest Tomatometer score I've ever heard of. Two? Look, I've seenDead Man on Campus. Meet the Spartans is better than Dead Man on Campus.